USG NEWS:
www.gpb.org
http://www.gpb.org/news/2014/05/28/guns-on-georgia-campuses-could-be-allowed-july-1
Guns On Georgia Campuses Could Be Allowed July 1
By Claire Simms
Starting July 1, licensed gun owners may be able to bring their firearms onto school and college campuses in Georgia, even though the “campus carry” provision was stripped from a controversial bill that will allow guns in many churches, bars and government buildings. That’s because a separate piece of legislation may have snuck under the radar and paved the way for campus carry after lawmakers removed it from the so-called “guns everywhere” bill (House Bill 60). The lesser-known bill, House Bill 826 sponsored by Representative Ed Setzler (R-Acworth) is aimed at doing away with “zero tolerance” policies on school campuses.

www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local/photo-vault-gun-law-controversy-began-decades-ago/nf8f5/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1#e6f62389.3566685.735382
Photo Vault: Gun law controversy began decades ago
By Arlinda Smith Broady – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With Georgia House Bill 60 going into effect July 1, the nation, if not the world, is weighing in on gun legislation in the Peach State. The so-called “guns everywhere” legislation specifies where Georgia residents can carry weapons. Included are provisions that allow residents who have concealed carry permits to take guns into some bars, churches, school zones, government buildings and certain parts of airports. This isn’t the first time Georgia gun laws have caught global attention. The Photo Vault looks back 32 years ago when an ordinance in Kennesaw required every head of household to possess a firearm and ammunition.

www.ledger-enquirer.com
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/05/28/3125061/csus-tim-mescon-finalist-for-presidents.html?sp=/99/164/
CSU’s Tim Mescon finalist for president’s post at Eastern Washington
BY CHUCK WILLIAMS
Columbus State University President Tim Mescon is one of three finalists for the president’s job at Eastern Washington University. Mescon will be interviewing at the 12,000-student university Thursday and Friday. “At this stage of my life, I can not ignore opportunities when they arise,” said Mescon, 59. …Mescon interviewed with the university’s search committee about a month ago. He formally applied for the job in a letter dated April 8. He was one of about 60 applicants.

GOOD NEWS:
www.wjcl.com
http://wjcl.com/2014/05/28/armstrong-atlantic-state-adds-bachelors-in-biochemistry-for-fall/
AASU adds bachelor’s in biochemistry for fall
By Staff reports
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WJCL) – Starting this fall, students at Armstrong Atlantic State University (AASU) will have the opportunity to earn a B.S. in Biochemistry, one of the fastest growing areas of science. The University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents approved AASU’s proposal for the new degree program on May 20. AASU’s Department of Chemistry and Physics originally introduced the Biochemistry track in 2007. Over the past decade, the number of students enrolled in biochemistry courses has tripled. “With the introduction of the biochemistry degree program, AASU will become the only public university south of Atlanta to offer a B.S. in Biochemistry,” Will Lynch, AASU’s chemistry and physics department head, said. “We’re proud to be able to offer our students a multitude of classes within the biochemistry degree to prepare them for jobs in the field.”

www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/business/every-kind-of-help-for-every-kind-of-student/nf8Gc/
Every kind of help for every kind of student
Tutoring offers help and hope for college studentsTRIO Student Support Services removes barriers to higher educationMilitary outreach services help veteransSupport always welcome online
By Laura Raines
For the AJC
Would you go back to college if you had help with math or writing a paper? How about if you could speak better English? Or if you just had access to a laptop or understood how to use a T1-84 graphing calculator? What if you had back-up with online classes, understood financial aid, or just knew where to start? Are you out of excuses yet? Good, because many colleges offer exactly the kind of help you need to get into college, manage your classes and graduate. Tutoring offers help and hope for college students Georgia Perimeter College, the state’s largest associate-degree granting college with five campuses and more than 21,000 students, has a Learning and Tutoring Center on every campus. There is help available seven days a week. The services are free, and we encourage students to use them,” said Alan Craig, interim director of GPC Learning and Tutoring Centers.

www.forest-blade.com
http://www.forest-blade.com/news/education/article_38360e06-e5d0-11e3-bae0-001a4bcf887a.html
EGSC-Statesboro employees recognized at appreciation luncheon
As part of East Georgia State College’s customer service initiative, an employee recognition luncheon was held for the faculty and staff at the EGSC Statesboro Center. The special faculty/staff gathering was held to express sincere appreciation for outstanding service and dedication to the college and students. The faculty and staff’s contributions have led to a culture of excellence and have assisted EGSC in maintaining its outstanding reputation as a premier access institution in the University System of Georgia. …President Bob Boehmer welcomed the faculty and staff and emphasized what each individual means to the college.

RESEARCH:
www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-news/2014-05-28/new-drug-starts-gru-cancer-center?v=1401325518
New drug starts at GRU Cancer Center
By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer
Someone always has to go first in taking a new drug and Alvin Dean of Martinez said he was not afraid to step up. “I had absolutely no problem with being the first person,” said Dean, 66. That the drug was developed from a discovery just across the street from where Dean sat Wednesday at Georgia Regents University Cancer Center is another big part of the story. Dean is the first patient in a clinical trial at the cancer center for a drug called NLG919 that is an inhibitor of the indoleamine 2.3-dioxygenase enzyme, or IDO for short.

www.medicalxpress.com
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-05-production-hyaluronic-acids-key-trigger.html
Continuous production of hyaluronic acids is a key trigger to cancer initiation, growth
by Alan Flurry
(Medical Xpress)—Chronic inflammation that induces low oxygen levels, or hypoxia, is a widely accepted cause of cancer development. However, the link between hypoxia and cell proliferation is far from clear. A new study by University of Georgia researchers presents a model explaining the connection between chronic inflammation, low oxygen levels and the resulting cell proliferation that begins the cancer process.

Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.politics.blog.ajc.com
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2014/05/29/did-georgia-accidently-pass-a-campus-carry-law/
Political Insider with Jim Galloway
Did Georgia accidentally pass a campus-carry law?
By Greg Bluestein, Daniel Malloy and Jim Galloway
A Georgia gun group is contending that, whether he intended it or not, a set of bills signed by Gov. Nathan Deal this spring will permit the legal carrying of concealed weaponry on public university campuses. State Rep. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, author of one of the two gun bills, agrees. “I believe that’s where we’re going to be on July 1,” Setzler said this morning. Lawyers for the governor strongly disagree. Attorney General Sam Olens has been asked for a formal interpretation of the matter by many of the parties involved. Given that the issue of campus carry would quickly be enveloped in a hot gubernatorial contest, you can expect his opinion to be issued rather quickly. At the center of the argument are two gun bills that go into effect on July 1.

www.saportareport.com
http://saportareport.com/blog/2014/05/objections-filed-against-morris-brown-land-sale-to-invest-atlanta-friendship/
SaportaReport
Objections filed against Morris Brown land sale to Invest Atlanta-Friendship
By Maria Saporta
Two entities have filed a legal objection to the joint proposal of the City of Atlanta and Friendship Baptist Church to buy nearly 36 acres of Morris Brown property. The African Methodist Episcopal Church, the major creditor of Morris Brown College’s debt, is objecting to the $14.6 million sale because it says it holds debt of $18.6 million. The AME church also is objecting to the fact that the proposed sale does not specify how or when the “net proceeds will be distributed.” …The second objection was filed by Clark Atlanta University, which has had a long-standing agreement with Morris Brown College on its “reversionary property rights.”

www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/get-schooled/2014/may/28/use-studies-cast-doubt-new-teacher-evaluation-meth/
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
There is no single measure that tells entire story of teacher performance. Multiple measures needed.
I recently wrote about two new studies that raised doubts about the reliability of student test scores and classroom observations to measure teacher effectiveness. “Instructional Alignment as a Measure of Teaching Quality,” by Morgan S. Polikoff at the University of Southern California and Andrew C. Porter at the University of Pennsylvania, found little to no relationships between state-administered value-added model measures of teacher performance and the content or quality of the teachers’ instruction. And then aBrookings study that found teachers who teach high performing students have an edge in observations.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-beta/alexander-mooc-lands#sthash.YMIaJE9p.dpbs
Alexander the MOOC Lands
By Guy M. Rogers
Almost four months ago my EdX/WellesleyX course, “Was Alexander Great?” was launched to test three questions about online education: whether a Massive Open Online Course could be as intellectually rigorous as a brick and mortar history course; whether a MOOC could serve as a portal for both teaching and historical research; and whether an online course could engage and inspire students. The data are in and the answer to all three questions is an emphatic yes.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/its-little-things-…#sthash.XsbUtm5e.dpbs
It’s the Little Things …
By Matt Reed
Having worked in the community college world for the past eleven years, I’m used to a certain tone-deafness about community college from “opinion leaders” in and around higher education. I’ve heard it referred to in lists of “alternatives to college.” I’ve read the pieces on “undermatching” that equate community college attendance with failure. And normally I content myself with simple rebuttals, because I see the admirable truth on the ground every single day. Most of the time, I’m content to put the information out there, and let it make its way on its own merits. But once in a while, I just can’t. This one really grinds my gears.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/driverless-car-and-data-centerless-campus#sthash.uJsPFMko.dpbs
The Driverless Car and the Data Centerless Campus
By Joshua Kim
…Google seems to be one of the few companies willing to place large investments on exponential, as opposed to incremental, leaps in technology. What would Google do if the company decided to apply this ambition to higher education? What do you think is equivalent in ambition to the driverless car in our world of colleges and universities? I think that my vote would the data centerless campus. The ability to finally turn off our last server. Today the campus data center is as important as it has ever been. Even as we move many of our commodity services to the cloud, such as e-mail and some storage, we continue to on local servers and disks to house our most precious applications and data. We continue to invest in our data centers to insure business continuity and information security, and our data centers are resources that we depend on to be always available 365/24/7. The problem is that data centers are very expensive to run.

www.nytimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/28/upshot/the-value-of-college-its-not-just-correlation.html?_r=1
The Value of College: It’s Not Just Correlation
David Leonhardt
Comparing the earnings of college graduates and nongraduates is an imperfect way of measuring the value of a degree, as I noted in my Tuesday column. Hypothetically, college graduates could earn more because they’re innately smarter — and would have earned just as much if they had never attended college or even any school. As a reader named Shawn posted in the comments section of the column, “The useful comparison is not between those who do and do not attend college but, rather, between equally intelligent students who do and do not choose to attend college.”

www.forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/sites/richkarlgaard/2014/05/28/buys-and-sells-if-colleges-were-stocks/
Buys And Sells: If Colleges Were Stocks
This story appears in the June 16, 2014 issue of Forbes.
Rich Karlgaard
Forbes Staff
Colleges rise. Colleges fall. Let’s look at France and the U.S. to see how they fare. In May 1968 student riots broke out in universities across France. What followed was a general strike of 11 million workers. The government of Charles de Gaulle nearly fell, and the French economy slid into recession. At first the rioting students enjoyed the support of the French population. More liberty, more equality, more fraternity–who could argue with that? French higher education had always been a bit stuffy, hierarchical and pompous. Maybe the students were correct. Then the facts emerged. The student uprisings had not been, as the French people were led to believe, spontaneous affairs. …In May 2014 several American universities and colleges appeared on the verge of French-like suicide.

www.evolllution.com
http://www.evolllution.com/research/cybersecurity-audit-accountability/
Cybersecurity: Audit and Accountability
By WeSam Musa | Cyber Security Adjunct Professor, University of Maryland University College
Determined hackers will always develop new ways to circumvent security measures, which means institutions need to audit their security measures regularly to test their effectiveness. Auditing will also ensure that both users and administrators are in compliance with security policies. Ultimately, auditing is an effective method for ensuring accountability and preventing large-scale and concerning security incidents. System and performance monitoring is one way universities can identify security issues.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/ratings-systems-empower-already-powerful#sthash.z9srUlka.dpbs
Ratings Systems Empower the Already Powerful
By John Warner
I am a fan of Rebecca Schuman’s education writing. Hers is a necessary voice, as she’s willing to challenge the status quo in unsparing terms, calling out the worst bad actors and empowering the disenfranchised to share their own stories. I agree with her about 95% of the time, but when it comes to the Obama administration’s development of a college ratings system, I have to (temporarily, I’m certain) leave Team Schuman. This is an especially odd feeling because her grievances against the system – adjunctification, tuition costs, student loan debt, unchecked athletics programs, administrative positions that proliferate like Tribbles — are my own. While the specific parameters of the rating system have yet to be released, we do know from a White House Fact Sheet released last year that they’re likely to focus on aspects of access, affordability, and outcome.

Education News
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/data/2014/05/29/is-college-worth-it-it-depends-on-whom-you-mean/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
‘Is College Worth It?’ You Might First Ask, ‘Worth It for Whom?’
It’s commencement season, so it’s no surprise that the “Is college worth it?” question is making headlines (again) this week. Perhaps fueled by nervous graduates and parents wondering if they’ve just flushed four (or more) years and many thousands of dollars down the drain, a column on that question by David Leonhardt of The New York Times became the most-read and most-emailed article on the newspaper’s website. The question isn’t new, nor are the answers, nor are the reactions to those answers. Not surprisingly, the debate about the value of a college degree can get heated. So where did we land in this most recent round of think pieces? Here’s a quick summary of this week’s answers to the perennial question “Is college worth it?”

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/A-New-Community-College-Keeps/146731/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
A New Community College Keeps Students on Track With Structure
By Seth Zweifler
New York
Alfred Rojas wasn’t sure what to expect when he decided to enroll at Guttman Community College. On one hand, he says, there was much to be excited about. If he graduated, he would become the first on his mother’s side of the family to earn a college degree. Participating in class every day, he thought, would help him overcome his fear of public speaking. And a college education would help him land a job, he reasoned. But Mr. Rojas, who grew up in Queens, N.Y., was also nervous. It was the fall of 2012, and Guttman, the newest community college in the City University of New York system, was getting ready to welcome its inaugural first-year class. …More than a year and a half after Guttman opened its doors, many administrators, faculty and staff members, and students say that the Manhattan institution’s first-year program—its academic hallmark—appears to be working. The program is an intensive, highly structured experience aimed at improving student engagement and retention rates. First-year students must attend full time.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Educators-Share-Strategies-for/146839/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Educators Share Strategies for Helping International Students Succeed
By Karin Fischer
San Diego
With just-released research suggesting that there are gaps in colleges’ understanding about international-student retention, conference-goers here at the annual meeting of Nafsa: Association of International Educators are asking: So, what can we do to ensure students don’t leave without earning their degree? A standing-room-only session on foreign-student retention and recruitment offered some possible strategies.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Why-So-Few-American-Indians/146715/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Why So Few American Indians Earn Ph.D.’s, and What Colleges Can Do About It
By Vimal Patel
Darryl Reano struggled with guilt in graduate school at Purdue University, some 1,400 miles away from his home, in Acoma Pueblo, N.M. There, on his reservation, near a mesa west of Albuquerque, his aunt was dying. “She was on dialysis, and here I was earning my master’s degree,” he says. “I wasn’t around to give my mom a hug. That’s what hurt the most.” Mr. Reano, who is set to start a Ph.D. program in geology and geoscience education this fall, struggled with feelings familiar to those of many American Indians who leave their reservations to pursue higher education. Graduate education in particular, which demands late nights spent in labs and libraries, can take a psychological toll on students whose identities are so deeply tied to families and communities. Those ties are a major reason that American Indians earn a troublingly low number of doctorates, say educators and advocates.

www.cbs46.com
http://www.cbs46.com/story/25627681/deck-is-stacked-against-millennials
Deck is stacked against millennials
By Matthew Segal
(CNN) – There is a Washington adage that if you don’t help write the menu, you might end up on it. And make no mistake: The classes of 2014 that walked across graduation stages recently just provided more young people available to be served for lunch. Despite positive news about America’s reduced 6.3% unemployment rate in April, it turns out the jobless rate for 18- to 29-year-olds is 9.1%. If you include “discouraged workers,” or those who have given up looking for work, unemployment for 18- to 29-year-olds is 15.5%. The unemployment rate for young African-Americans is even worse: 16.6%, and if you add discouraged workers, it’s a whopping 23.3%. With job opportunities scarce, employers feel little pressure to raise wages.

www.ca.finance.yahoo.com
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/employment-higher-education-shrinks-third-141900876.html
Employment in Higher Education Shrinks for Third Consecutive Quarter
STATE COLLEGE, Pa., May 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — The number of jobs in higher education decreased in Q1 2014 for the third consecutive quarter. However, the declines have been consistently lessening in magnitude over time. During the same period, the number of advertisements for job openings in higher education continued to grow according to a new report from HigherEdJobs, the leading source for jobs and career information in academia. The full report can be viewed at http://www.higheredjobs.com/career/quarterly-report.cfm.
An analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data by HigherEdJobs found the total number of jobs in higher education was down 0.4 percent in Q1 2014, or about 7,800 jobs, compared to the same time last year.

www.gpb.org
http://www.gpb.org/blogs/georgia-works/2014/05/28/georgia-companies-giving-high-school-students-the-opportunity-to-expl
Georgia Companies Giving High School Students the Opportunity to Explore STEM careers!
By Jessica Forkel
Georgia is suffering from a lack of production workers, scientists, engineers and technology specialists. The question is, WHY is there skill-gap? Is it because students don’t have a hands-on experience with these educational departments? Are they educated enough in the STEM fields? Well, the Georgia Department of Education has created a department called Global Workforce Initiative, this allows private companies into the high school classes to train these future workers.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/05/29/temple-us-new-information-security-policy-puts-data-not-devices-first#sthash.AOtxWssn.dpbs
BYOD? NP.
By Carl Straumsheim
Forget the device — protect the data. That’s the core of Temple University’s new data policy, which some chief information officers are praising for emphasizing security in the bring-your-own-device era. “All members of the University community have a responsibility to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data generated, accessed, modified, transmitted, stored or used by the University, irrespective of the medium on which the data resides and regardless of format (e.g., in electronic, paper or other physical form),” the policy, enacted this January, reads. The “device explosion” is a familiar problem for university information technology and security officers, and policies that allow students and employees to bring their own devices have only made the situation worse.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/05/29/gay-rights-groups-foia-request-professors-research-pits-privacy-vs-academic-freedom#sthash.qp9EhgIx.dpbs
Transparency vs. Censorship
By Colleen Flaherty
Just last month, Virginia’s high court upheld the University of Virginia’s right not to disclose a professor’s emails about his work on climate change to a conservative organization that requested their release under the Freedom of Information Act. Now the university is again being asked to disclose a faculty member’s email correspondence and other personal records — this time by a gay rights advocacy group that says it’s concerned that the work of renowned Constitutional law professor Douglas Laycock is being used to support anti-gay and pro-life legislation. Although the two Virginia requests came from different sides of the political aisle, experts say they raise similar issues. Namely, experts say, FOIA requests regarding professors’ preliminary scholarship and personal correspondence walk a fine line between ensuring transparency in public institutions and infringing on academic freedom.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Oregon-s-New/146837/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
U. of Oregon’s New Academic-Freedom Policy Protects Students and Staff
By Peter Schmidt
The University of Oregon has adopted an academic-freedom policy that provides broad protections not just to faculty members, but to all of its employees, and also its students. Michael R. Gottfredson, the university’s president, signed the measure on Wednesday, following its unanimous passage last month by the faculty senate. The policy has been heralded as among the nation’s strongest by the institution’s fledgling faculty union, United Academics of the University of Oregon, which is affiliated with both the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers.

www.miamitodaynews.com
http://www.miamitodaynews.com/2014/05/28/universities-7-3-billion-miami-impact/
Universities have $7.3 billion Miami impact
Written by John Charles Robbins
Colleges and universities in Miami-Dade County play a very significant role in the local economy. County officials who did the math discovered the institutes of higher learning contribute billions of dollars each year, both directly and indirectly. And while the county commissioner who called for the study – Lynda Bell – applauded the findings, she’s quick to say efforts are needed to keep young and talented graduates here.

www.bloomberg.com
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-28/cornell-s-nyc-tech-campus-seeking-education-business-partners.html
Cornell Tech Seeking NYC Education, Business Partners
By Sonali Basak
Cornell University’s fledgling technology campus in New York City is seeking partnerships with other educational institutions and businesses in the city to attract global talent, leaders of the school said. Cornell Tech’s first matriculating class of about 11 students began last fall, and the planned 2 million square-foot campus on Roosevelt Island will eventually serve more than 2,000 students.

www.tri.gmnews.com
http://tri.gmnews.com/news/2014-05-29/Schools/Legislation_would_cap_tuition_increases_at_public_.html
Legislation would cap tuition increases at public colleges
By THOMAS CASTLES
Staff Writer
Legislation introduced by state Assemblywoman Nancy Pinkin (D-Middlesex) would limit tuition and fee increases at certain colleges and universities in New Jersey. The bill (A-3173), which was introduced in the Assembly Higher Education Committee on May 8,would impose a 4 percent cap on tuition and fee hikes from the previous academic year at the state’s public institutions of higher learning.

www.nypost.com
http://nypost.com/2014/05/28/cooper-union-administrators-hit-with-suit-for-instituting-tuition/
Cooper Union administrators hit with suit for instituting tuition
By Julia Marsh
Cooper Union alumni slapped the school with a lawsuit Tuesday over the East Village institution’s controversial decision to charge tuition — while calling out school officials for approving extravagant expenses like personal bodyguards and $10,000 blinds for their new president. The Committee to Save Cooper Union accuses administrators of squandering funds by allowing President Jamshed Bharucha to ­indulge “in luxuries that a school dedicated to free tuition and allegedly strapped for cash could not afford,” the suit says. “President Bharucha spent over $350,000 on his inauguration celebration — $50,000 of which went to pay celebrity guest speaker ­Fareed Zakaria,” a foreign-policy author, according to court papers.

www.mndaily.com
http://www.mndaily.com/news/campus/2014/05/28/university-slated-20-million-cut-administrative-spending
University slated for $20 million cut to administrative spending
President Kaler’s budget for next year axes more than 100 top leadership positions.
ByAnne Millerbernd Tyler Gieseke
The University of Minnesota’s administrative spending is slated for $20 million in cuts next year. President Eric Kaler proposed the cuts at a Board of Regents meeting earlier this month as part of a larger plan to reduce administrative spending by $90 million over six years, following widespread criticism of the institution’s pay to top executives. The plan cuts 115 full-time administrative positions, mostly through methods like retirement, voluntary layoffs and by leaving some positions vacant when employees’ contracts expire, said Associate Vice President for Budget and Finance Julie Tonneson.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/05/29/house-panel-passes-science-bill-concerns-college-leaders#sthash.jIoHo7FJ.dpbs
House Panel Passes Science Bill That Concerns College Leaders
The House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology approved legislation Wednesday that would reauthorize the National Science Foundation and other research agencies — and would do so in a way that concerns many university leaders.

www.insidehighered.com
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/05/29/effort-brewing-congress-block-college-ratings-system#sthash.GcHbZWTl.dpbs
Effort Brewing in Congress to Block College Ratings System
At least one House Republican is seeking to block the Obama administration’s efforts to develop a federal college ratings system. Representative Bob Goodlatte of Virginia wrote in an email to his fellow lawmakers last week that he hopes to insert a provision into upcoming spending bills that would prohibit the Education Department from moving ahead with the ratings system.

www.reuters.com
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/28/us-usa-education-rule-idUSKBN0E806T20140528
Proposed rule would hurt poor students, for-profit U.S. colleges say
BY ELVINA NAWAGUNA
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) – Nearly half of students attending for-profit colleges in the United States could lose federal aid if the Obamaadministration implements a new rule on public disclosure of the schools’ performance and earnings, according to a report prepared for the colleges and released on Tuesday. The “gainful employment” rule unfairly targets for-profit institutions and would disproportionately affect poor students, said the report prepared by the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, a trade group representing the colleges.

www.thewire.com
http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/05/williams-is-the-latest-college-accused-of-mishandling-rape/371624/
Williams Is the Latest College Accused of Mishandling Rape
ALLIE JONES
Williams College is not one of the 55 colleges currently under federal investigation for mishandling sexual assault, but its administration appears to be nervous it could be next. Lexie Brackenridge, currently a Columbia student who transferred out of Williams after she was raped there in 2012, wrote an op-ed for The Williams Record this month detailing her unsatisfactory experience dealing with Williams administration and the harassment she faced from other students after reporting her assault.

www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/28/education-department-investigations-title-ix_n_5400345.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013&ir=Politics
Education Department Expands Title IX Investigations, Bringing Total To 60 Colleges
Tyler Kingkade
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights said Wednesday that it has opened investigations into the sexual violence policies at five more higher education institutions, after disclosing earlier this month its comprehensive list of current inquiries. For the first time in its history, the federal agency on May 1 released a list of 55 colleges and universities that are being investigated for possible Title IX violations related to sexual violence on campus. (At least 32 additional Title IX investigations are also underway for other reasons.) Since releasing the list, the department has launched Title IX investigations at the University of Alaska system, the University of Delaware, Elmira College in New York, the University of Akron in Ohio and Cisco Junior College in Texas. This brings the total number of schools with federal probes to 60.

www.universitybusiness.com
http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/escaping-athletic-trap
Escaping the athletic trap
How college sports has led to an ‘arms race’ in which there are more losers than winners
By: Tim Goral
University Business
College sports has long had its share of scandals, including rape charges against players and coaches, illegal payments to athletes, academic fraud and point shaving, to name a few.
More recently, a pair of high-profile cases—an antitrust suit against the NCAA by players seeking compensation for the use of their likenesses for commercial purposes and the National Labor Relations Board ruling that Northwestern University football players could form unions—has many wondering, once again, whether the time has come to rethink the purpose of college sports. None of this surprises Howard L. Nixon, whose book The Athletic Trap: How College Sports Corrupted the Academy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014) examines how amateur college sports got this way and how it may ultimately save itself.

www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/ncaa-teams-up-with-defense-dept-on-30-million-concussion-study/78727?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
NCAA Teams Up With Defense Dept. on $30-Million Concussion Study
By Brad Wolverton
The National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Department of Defense plan to jointly direct $30-million toward the study of concussions among college athletes and an effort to improve safety in high-contact sports. The study, announced as part of a White House summit on concussions scheduled for Thursday, will track head injuries among tens of thousands of students. The money will also go toward further research on concussion risks and plans for treatment.